Editorials
Happy 30th Anniversary to Lamberto Bava’s ‘Demons!’
October 4th marked the 30th anniversary of the release Lamberto Bava’s totally rad horror film Demons. It’s didn’t see an American release until 1986, but the original Italian release was 1985 so we’re counting that as the actual release date. Co-written by Dario Argento himself (and co-starring his daughter Fiore), Demons is a blast from beginning to end. It is quickly paced, gory as hell and has a great sense of humor about itself. In other words, its fucking awesome, so I thought I would write a short piece paying tribute to this 80s classic.
Demons has a rather simple plot: a bunch of people get invited to a secret screening of a new movie about to come out. Final girl Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) and her friend Kathy (Paola Cozzo) skip class to attend the film (skipping class is treated as the “they had sex” moment of the film) and, predictably, a bunch of demons start possessing and attacking the audience members. Is use the word “predictably” as a compliment, as Demons knows exactly the type of film it wants to be and doesn’t pull any punches.
There are a wide variety of characters attending the screening, but the most memorable are probably Tony the pimp (Bobby Rhodes) and his two prostitutes, Rosemary (Geretta Geretta) and Carmen (Fabiola Toledo). To merely list off Tony’s hilarious quotes and one-liners simply wouldn’t do them justice. They have to be heard to get the full effect. Luckily, YouTube user fleshtrashheat has done a supercut of his best lines from both Demons and its sequel (Rhodes plays a gym teacher named Hank in Demons 2. Just go with it.):
I have seen Demons a handful of times, but I was actually able to watch it on the big screen a few months ago. Let me tell you, there is nothing more meta than watching Demons in a movie theater. It is the absolute best way to watch it, and the crowd reactions amplify the film’s effect. Adding to the meta factor is the fact that the characters are watching a movie about a group of teenagers who find a mask that turns one of them into a murderous demon. This same mask is the one found and worn by Rosemary before she gets all demon-y.
As is expected from a film titled Demons, the gore is top notch. Weirdly enough, I find the film to be less and less gory each time I watch it. It must be a desensitization thing, because a first viewing inspired gags from this writer. That may be due to the incredibly grotesque scene in which Rosemary (Demons’ patient zero) has a lot of pus explode out of her face (and you all know how I feel about pus), but either way the practical effects are truly inspired. It’s one of those movies that make you lament the lack of practical gore effects in many of today’s horror films. See below for the scene in question.
Of course, no discussion of Demons would be complete without mentioning the awesome rock/metal soundtrack. While it features songs from Billy Idol, Mötley Crüe, and Accept, the true standout is Claudio Simonetti’s score. My personal favorite is the title song “Demon” which samples from Peer Gynt’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”
The film ends on a downer, with final girl Cheryl transforming into a demon and being shot and killed, leaving final boy George to drive off into a transformed world that has been overrun by demons. It’s a shame the sequel never followed up on this plot point (it sort of retcons the first film and acts as another Demons, this time taking place in an apartment building), because that would have been a lot of fun to see. Granted, that would also have required a much larger budget, so I understand their reasoning for going in a different direction with Demons 2.
Demons is a particularly clever film that knows how to have fun. There are plenty of winks to the audience and standing ovation moments. If you haven’t seen it yet, seek it out immediately and give it a watch. You won’t regret it. Totally unrelated but also a bit of fun trivia: the building used for the exterior shots of the theater is now a club called Goya in Berlin that hosts horror conventions. Might be a good vacation destination if you ever find yourself in Berlin.
What are your thoughts on Demons? Are you as big a fan of it as I am? I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of how completely awesome this film is, so share your thoughts and memories on the film in the comments below, or feel free to Tweet me!
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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